Captain Frank Sowter Barnwell OBE AFC FRAeS BSc

  General Notes:

Captain Frank Barnwell - Aircraft Designer - 1880 to 1938

Frank Barnwell was born of a North Country family in Lewisham, Kent in 1880. He was sent to Fettes College public school in Edinburgh, and at eighteen left to serve a six-year apprenticeship in marine engineering with the Fairfield Shipbuilding Co. of Govan. Taking a BSc in engineering at the University of Glasgow, he went abroad for two years, returning to join his brother Harold in a motor business in Stirlingshire, which they ran to support their joint, and greater interest, flying.

From their garage they produced three flying machines between 1908 and 1910, gaining confidence and skill with each. Wishing to progress, the brothers headed south to join the new aviation enterprises that were beginning to spring up and build aeroplanes. Harold took a position with Vickers, but after rising to become their Chief Test Pilot he was killed in an aircraft accident in 1917

Frank was about to accept an offer from A.V. Roe when Sir George White of Bristol made him a much more exciting offer. He joined Filton in March 1911, a place he would remain at for most of his life.

Along with most of his generation, Frank joined up for service in the First World War. He became a wartime pilot in the Royal Flying Corp and rose to the rank of Captain. In 1915 he was stationed in France with No. 12 Squadron and saw at first hand the ease with which the newly introduced German Fokker + E-type was disposing of the British BE2. The BE2 was poorly armed and lacked manoeuvrability.* The Flying Corps was losing pilots almost as fast as they could be replaced. Not wishing to lose more pilots, and at the same time not wishing to lose valuable engineering and design capability, the General Staff released Frank Barnwell from duty in 1915. He was sent back to Filton on indefinite unpaid leave to resume his position as Chief Engineer. Frank immediately began to assemble a team of engineers to produce a suitable combat machine to counteract the enemy's superiority on the Western Front.



Barnwell the early years

The team included Leslie G. Frise, a brilliant young engineering mind who had graduated from the University of Bristol. Frise went on to become equally distinguished, being remembered for his design of Frise Type ailerons, and for laying the foundations of most World War Two aircraft that came from the factory.

After making some minor but very effective changes to the Bristol Scout, Frank Barnwell then designed what became known as the 'Brisfit', the Bristol Fighter. The aircraft became a legend almost as soon as it arrived on the Western Front, it had a poor start being flown as a traditional two-seat machine and on its first sortie most of the aircraft were shot down. Pilots immediately began to fly it differently and the aircraft responded like the true great it was, they began to win air battles, morale went up and pilots lived longer. Fifty had been ordered in August 1916, and by 1918 that number had risen to 2600. Fitted with a Rolls-Royce Falcon engine it was a sturdy two-seat machine that could be thrown around the sky like a single seat fighter. Pilots began to swear by its capabilities and it certainly turned the tide of war in the air over the Western Front.

Frank also designed the M.1 series of monoplanes that showed their potential early on but were never accepted fully by the Air Ministry. He also went on to design the definitive inter war fighter, the Bristol Bulldog



Captain Barnwell's achievements

Barnwell was one of the first designers in Britain to adopt the new technology of the stressed-skin monoplane, starting design of a high-speed six-seater in 1933. This developed into the 'Britain First', predecessor of the Blenheim bomber.

Like his brother before him, Frank Barnwell suffered an untimely death, killed as he was in a flying accident in 1938 whilst testing a machine built for his own use. Frank Barnwell loved to fly but unlike his brother Harold, he was not a great pilot and Bristol finally stopped him flying the company's aircraft. Frank, therefore designed and built a motorcycle engined ultra-light for his own use and on its second flight at Whitchurch, Bristol, he crashed and was killed outright. The world had lost, still with so much to give, one of the most innovative aircraft designers of all time. In World War Two, Frank's three sons joined up for active service, and tragically, they also lost their lives, two of them in Blenheims.

Barnwell's last design, in a career which had helped aviation develop from 'stick and string' to the powerful all-metal monoplane, was the Beaufort torpedo bomber which first flew 11 weeks after his death. C G Grey, editor of 'The Aeroplane', called Frank Barnwell "one of the most charming people one could meet", adding that in 27 years he had never seen him angry. He was also, Grey said, "beyond question, one of the best aeroplane designers ' in the world."

http://www.aviationarchive.org.uk/stories/pages.php?enum=GE130&pnum=0&maxp=2

* According to C H Barnes in his book 'Bristol Aircraft since 1910', Frank Barnwell was released from active service with the RFC in August 1915, whilst No.12 Squadron didn't go to France until September of that year. So it seems unlikely that Frank saw action with the Squadron in France.

Airplane Design Methodology: Setting the Gold Standard

John D. Anderson Jr.
National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC

The Bristol Fighter was designed by Bristol's young Chief
Designer,Frank Sowter Barnwell (Fig.2), who was Britain's leading
airplane design engineer. Even so, his was not a household name in
Britain, and he was virtually unknown in the United States. For the
next two decades he proceeded to design almost every new Bristol
aircraft. When he was killed in a crash of the new home-built airplane
he was flying at Bristol Airport, his obituary in The Aeroplane
stated, "Frank Barnwell was beyond question one of the best airplane
designers in this country or in the World. No other designer has
turned out so many first-class aeroplanes which have become
historic."


Honour for Scotland's answer to the Wright Brothers

By Laura Roberts

THE brothers who made Scotland's first powered flight almost a century ago are to be commemorated for the first time next week.

Harold and Frank Barnwell, from Stirling, were Britain's answer to the Wright brothers. They made some of the most significant developments in aeronautical history.

They achieved the first powered flight in Scotland in 1909, when they travelled 80 metres over a field in the shadow of the Wallace Monument.

A sculpture of their award-winning biplane will be unveiled next Wednesday to mark their achievements. The silver granite sculpture - with a one-metre wingspan - will be on permanent display at Causewayhead, Stirling, yards from the site of the Grampian Motor and Engineering Company, which the brothers ran to fund their aviation work.

Stirling historian Craig Mair said yesterday: "If the Americans had the Wright brothers, Scotland had Harold and Frank Barnwell. They built an aircraft hangar in Stirling and put together their first full-sized aeroplane in 1908, though the engine was not powerful enough for it to take off."

"Then, on Wednesday 28 July, 1909, their next design made its first flight, Harold piloting the plane more than 80 metres at an altitude of about four metres over a field in Stirling. It crashed nose-first into the ground, but Harold was delighted. "

"The following year, the brothers' next design managed around 600 metres, this time with Frank piloting."

"The flight was such a success that in January 1911 Harold took the same plane out again to attempt a flight over Bridge of Allan. He turned too sharply and crashed into a field but he had already created a new record as the first Scottish plane to fly more than a mile."

The Barnwell brothers' impact on the development of aviation extended to the Second World War, when the Blenheim and Beaufort bombers Frank Barnwell designed helped win vital victories over Germany.

Both brothers died in separate flying accidents, in machines of their own design.

Frank Barnwell is still widely regarded as one of the most innovative aircraft designers of all time. During the First World War he was charged with designing an answer to Germany's deadly Fokker E-type aircraft, which was destroying Britain's cumbersome BE2s on the Western Front.

He designed the Scout biplane, produced from 1915 in Bristol, an economical aircraft that weighed only 950lb, including the pilot and three hours worth of fuel.

He also designed the high-speed "Britain First" bomber in 1933, predecessor to the Blenheim bomber.

His last design, in a career that had helped aviation progress from "stick and string" construction to the powerful all-metal monoplane, was the Beaufort torpedo bomber, which first flew 11 weeks after his death.

The sculpture will be set on a three-metre tall cairn and surrounded by a flower garden and public benches.

The Grampian Motor and Engineering Company closed in 2003 and developers Bett Homes are now building housing on the site. The company has donated £2,000 towards the cost of the memorial.

Iain Sinclair, Causwayhead Community Council's project director, who initiated the sculpture plan, said: "With the closure of the Grampian Engineering Works last year, the last tangible connection between the Barnwells and Causwayhead has gone. "It is important that the part the brothers played in the development of manned flight should be remembered and marked."


The University of Glasgow

Biography of Frank Barnwell

Frank Sowter Barnwell (1880-1938) was a graduate of the University who, in partnership with his brother, went on to achieve the first powered flight in Scotland.

Barnwell was born in Lewisham Kent in 1880 and later moved to Balfron, Stirling. His father, Richard, was a Managing Director at Fairfields Shipping and Engineering Co, Govan. He was educated at Fettes College in Edinburgh and first matriculated at the University in 1900 to study Natural Philosophy and Chemistry. He returned for his second session in 1902 studying Naval Architecture and Engineering. He received a BSc in 1905.

After two years travel abroad following graduation, Frank and his brother Harold built a total of three aircraft in the years 1908-10. They achieved the first powered flight in Scotland at Stirling on July 28, 1909.

Frank joined Bristol Aircraft in 1911, enlisting in the Royal Flying Corp after war broke out. Aircraft and pilot losses were high and the British aircraft were clearly inferior to the German ones. In 1915 he was sent back to Bristol as Chief Engineer where he achieved fame as designer of the Bristol Fighter.

Tragically Barnwell died in a flying accident in 1938 while testing out one of his new designs.


List of accidents and incidents involving military aircraft (pre-1950)

9 April 1919 - Second of only two Bristol M.R.1 metal-covered, two-seat biplanes built, A5178, flown by Capt. Barnwell, strikes pine tree on approach to RAE Farnborough's North Gate and is written off.


Frank Barnwell
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Captain Frank Sowter Barnwell OBE AFC FRAeS BSc (1880 \endash 2 August 1938) was an aeronautical engineer, who performed the first powered flight in Scotland and later went on to a career as an aircraft designer.

Contents
1 History
2 Family
3 Honours and awards
4 Notes
5 References
6 External links

History

Barnwell was born in Lewisham, Kent and educated at Fettes College in Edinburgh and the University of Glasgow.[1] From 1898 to 1904 he worked for Fairfield Shipbuilding before going abroad for two years. In 1906 he joined his brother Harold in business and established the Grampian Motors & Engineering Company in Stirling where between 1908 and 1909 they set about building a prototype aeroplane.[1] In 1909 Harold piloted the first powered flight in Scotland, in a field in Causewayhead under the Wallace Monument. Frank Barnwell went on to become chief engineer for what became the Bristol Aeroplane Company in Bristol, UK, designing aircraft including the Bristol F.2 Fighter, Bristol Bulldog and the later Bristol Blenheim.[1]

Barnwell was killed in a plane crash in 1938.[2] He was piloting a small aircraft he had designed and built himself, the Barnwell B.S.W., it struck a bump when taking off from Bristol (Whitchurch) Airport and stalled crashing onto a nearby road [3]

Family

Frank and Marjorie (née Sandes) Barnwell had three sons who all lost their lives in the second world war:

Pilot Officer David Usher Barnwell DFC, RAFVR, of No. 607 Squadron RAF died aged 19 on 14 October 1941.[4]
Flight Lieutenant Richard Antony Barnwell, RAF of No. 102 Squadron RAF died aged 24 on 29 October 1940.[5]
Pilot Officer John Sandes Barnwell, RAF of No. 29 Squadron RAF died aged 20 on 19 June 1940.[6]

Honours and awards

7 June 1918 - Captain Frank Sowter Barnwell. Aeroplane Designer, The British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, Limited to be an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services in connection with the War.[7]
1 September 1918 - Capt. Frank Sowter Barnwell, OBE awarded the Air Force Cross in recognition of distinguished service.[8]

Notes

1. a b c Aviation archive
2. RAF History
3. Flight 11 August 1938 (Obituary Frank Barnwell)
4. Commonwealth War Graves Commission (D U Barnwell)
5. Commonwealth War Graves Commission (R A Barnwell)
6. Commonwealth War Graves Commission (J S Barnwell)
7. London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 30730. p. 6695 . 7 June 1918. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
8. London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 31098. p. 97 . 1 January 1919. Retrieved 2009-02-27.

References

Gutman, J. "Bristol F2 Fighter Aces of World War 1". Osprey Publishing 2007. ISBN 978-1-84603-201-1

External links

RAF history article on Barnwell's role in the Bristol Blenheim
Story from The Scotsman on the memorial
The High Endeavour of a Splendid Man - Flight article on Barnwell

  Noted events in his life were:

• Military Service, 30 May 1918, Fairlawn, Filton, Gloucestershire. Rose to Captain in the Royal Flying Corps had short spells with 1 Squadron and 12 Squadron between being loaned to the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company (Bristol).

• Census, 3 Apr 1881, 11 Darnly Road, Gravesend, Kent. Listed as: Age 0.

Frank married Marjorie Sandes in 1910. (Marjorie Sandes died on 9 Dec 1961 and was buried in 1961 in St Helen's, Alveston, Gloucestershire.)